


A Perfect Day

by gemxblossom



Category: ENHYPEN (Band)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst and Fluff, Happy Ending, Im bad at tags welp, M/M, Misunderstandings, Pining Kim Sunoo, Pining Park Sunghoon, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-27 00:47:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30114570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gemxblossom/pseuds/gemxblossom
Summary: When Sunghoon first met Kim Sunoo, he still believed in love.It was exactly a year before his eighteenth birthday, and like most other boys his age, he was anxiously awaiting the day his mark would appear. Everyone got it once they came of age; the flashing timer on the inner skin of the wrist, counting down the time until they would come face to face with their soulmate.Sunghoon’s eighteenth birthday came.His soulmate mark didn’t.Maybe love, if it really did exist, was not so simple after all.
Relationships: Kim Sunoo/Park Sunghoon
Comments: 12
Kudos: 85





	A Perfect Day

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in a day so don't expect too much but can I get points for effort

**1.**

When Sunghoon first met Kim Sunoo, he still believed in love.

It was exactly a year before his eighteenth birthday, and like most other boys his age, he was anxiously awaiting the day his mark would appear. Everyone got it once they came of age; the flashing timer on the inner skin of the wrist, counting down the time until they would come face to face with their soulmate.

For some, it would take years. Others, usually those who were already acquainted with their soulmate, would have a timer that counted in mere days, minutes or seconds. You could know someone your whole life, and then suddenly, the first meeting you have with them after your eighteenth birthday, they become your soulmate.

While Sunghoon anticipated his timer as much as anyone else, he didn’t believe that it should dictate his heart. In his opinion, if he was fated to be with someone, he wouldn’t even need to look at the timer to know.

The moment he laid eyes on Sunoo, a year before his eighteenth birthday, Park Sunghoon knew.

They met through Jay, who was friends with both of them, yet they themselves had somehow never interacted before. All three of them were supposed to meet up for lunch in a cafe, but Jay unexpectedly stayed home, claiming he had a cough. Sunghoon suspected otherwise.

The boy had insisted that Sunoo and Sunghoon go ahead and hang out without him. It was almost like a date. But neither of them called it that.

Sunghoon didn’t know when it happened.

Maybe it was when Sunoo walked into the cafe ten minutes late, the tinkling of the bells on the door announcing his arrival. Sunghoon had stared at the boy who had just entered, and prayed silently that this was the person he was meeting up with. Jay hadn't given him much information, just that he had a friend to introduce him to. He hadn't given him much of a description, just said, "When you see him, you'll know." 

Sunoo stood by the door, brushing the snow from his hair. It floated to the ground like powdered sugar. The moment his eyes landed on Sunghoon sitting by the window he brightened, and he made his way over, unwinding his scarf from his neck. And Sunghoon knew. 

Maybe it happened when Sunoo opened his mouth and said his first words to him, his lower lip jutted out in apology as he made excuses for his delayed arrival. Sunghoon couldn’t have cared less when the boy showed up. He was amazed that such a person was sitting before him at all. 

Maybe it was when he noticed the bits of snow that still clung to his eyelashes, and then noticed the golden brown eyes underneath them.

Maybe it was the way Sunoo laughed even when whatever Sunghoon said wasn’t that funny, the way he leaned forward intently like he was hanging onto every word, the way the coffee foam stuck to his upper lip after he took a sip and didn’t bother to lick it away.

All these simple things are what made Sunghoon realize that he no longer needed his timer to tell him what he wanted.

As his birthday quickly approached, his heart grew bigger. Sunoo grew closer. One simple meeting, and they were suddenly stuck together like they had always been that way, two sides of the same coin.

Sometimes love was just simple like that. It didn’t have to be this needlessly complicated, messy thing. Love was as simple as the way Sunoo smiled at Sunghoon, and the way he smiled back. And he believed, wholeheartedly, that this was his person. He now eagerly awaited his timer, not as an indication of his fate, but as confirmation.

Sunghoon’s eighteenth birthday came.

His soulmate mark didn’t.

Maybe love, if it really did exist, was not so simple after all.

**2.**

“Do you ever think of what your soulmate will be like?”

They were lying side by side on a thin blanket, the sharp blades of grass poking at their backs through the threadbare material. The sky was a perfect shade of blue, the color of forget-me-nots, and not a single stray cloud blemished its complexion. It was a perfect day to do something.

Sunghoon usually had little energy for doing things. He preferred staying at home over going to parties; reading a book over hiking outside; where others might find it romantic to dance in the rain, he saw an appeal in just sitting by the window and letting the gentle patter of drops weaving across the glass lull him into a state of calm.

So when Sunoo called him that morning, remarking on what a nice day it was, he steeled himself for having to do _something._ Because whatever Sunoo proposed, he would say yes to, of course. With him, Sunghoon couldn’t give any other answer.

“Let’s do nothing,” Sunoo had said.

And maybe that’s why Sunghoon loved him.

The shade of the tree hanging overhead cooled them from the vicious glare of the summer sun. The flecks of light that managed to sneak their way through the leaves created a dappled pattern on Sunoo’s face, painting him in hues of gold and grey. It was a beautiful day to do nothing.

And then Sunoo broke the serenity. The sound of his question startled Sunghoon into lucidity, and suddenly the air was too hot, the grass too itchy, and his beautiful Sunoo had just wounded him deeply.

He flinched away from him. “How could you ask me that?”

Sunoo stared at him in alarm, unaware of the pain he had just caused. “What’s wrong?” He said carefully. “Not having a mark doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t have a soulmate. It just means that they’ll know when their timer stops, but you won’t.”

He had heard this argument before, from Jay. _Your soulmate could still be out there_ , he said. There were cases of people who didn’t have a mark who were still found by their person. And there were also cases of people who never found anyone at all.

“It’s better to hope for nothing, than be disappointed,” Sunghoon mumbled.

“Don’t you think your soulmate wouldn’t want you to give up on them?” Sunoo asked curiously.

“I think we shouldn’t need a stupid timer to tell us who to love,” he retorted.

“I agree,” Sunoo said easily. He always agreed. Even when he had a completely different opinion from someone, he always found a way to see things from all perspectives and to validate their feelings. “But what if you already love someone? What if it just tells you what you already know?”

That was what Sunghoon had wanted to think too. When he had first met Sunoo, he still believed. He had imagined a scenario where his timer appeared on his wrist on the morning of his birthday.The time shown would not be long, because all he had to do was call Sunoo. He would call him and say, “let’s do nothing,” and they would meet up at a park where they would lay a picnic blanket down and stare up at the sky mindlessly. He would see Sunoo approaching from the distance, each step they took towards each other counting as another second ticked down on Sunghoon’s clock.

Their toes would touch. Their eyes would meet. Sunghoon’s timer would stop. What he had already known, would be confirmed.

But that’s not what happened.

A slight breeze was starting to pick up. The branches swayed above them. The shadows rippled across Sunoo’s face. There were only a few inches of space between their bodies, but it felt like an infinite, unbridgeable gap.

“I don’t know what I know anymore,” Sunghoon said.

Sunoo pursed his lips, and looked away.

The breeze died back down, and the heat crept back in. Sunghoon had never felt colder.

**3.**

Sunghoon tried to not feel anything. He really did. But whenever Sunoo gazed longingly at the pale skin of his wrist, counting down the days until his timer would appear, Sunghoon would ache. He knew the person he was waiting for was not him.

He even tried to talk Sunoo out of the whole notion of soulmates. He hated to discourage anything that the boy so wholeheartedly believed in, something that he pinned all his hopes on; but despite his best efforts, Sunghoon felt so deeply that it made him selfish.

“Why do you need to wait for fate to tell you who to love?” He asked him one day. They had had this debate many times, and everytime Sunoo indulged him gently. But his answer never changed. “Why can’t you just love who you want to love on your own?” _Why can't that person be me?_

Sunoo only laughed at him. He didn’t see what was funny, but leave it to Sunoo to find the light in everything. “You’re still not understanding how it works,” he protested. “Love is the precedent; not the result.”

Sunghoon contemplated this. He still thought that could only be true if you already knew your soulmate before you received your timer. But if not… “Aren’t you worried that your clock will stop in front of some complete stranger that you’ll be forced to care for?” The thought of Sunoo being tied to a random fool forever made him shiver.

Sunoo shook his head. “I’m not worried,” he said with a small smile. “I’m not worried at all.”

Sunghoon wished he could say the same.

**4.**

They said that when you met your soulmate, it would be love at first sight, and it would be like you had known them your whole life.

Sunghoon had known Sunoo for a year and a half now. It felt like he had known him his whole life, and maybe all the lifetimes before that.

Sunghoon was an introvert by nature; he had friends, but even those he couldn’t be around for too long without feeling the energy sap out of his body. But when Sunoo stepped into the cafe that day a year and a half ago, it felt like his whole being had received an instant recharge.

Sunoo stuck to him every day after that. They sat together at lunch, went on coffee dates that were not really dates, and simply enjoyed each other’s company. Sunghoon had never spent that much consecutive time with a single person before. He wasn’t drained at all; he had never felt more alive.

At present, a week before Sunoo’s birthday, Sunghoon had never felt more empty. He had been so used to being alone, but now that he found himself in isolation again after having Sunoo attached to him like an extension of himself, he found that he couldn’t bear it.

Sunoo usually toned down his chatter whenever they spent time together. Sometimes they would simply sit together in silence, finding comfort in each other’s presence. But the silence when Sunoo was with him, and the silence when Sunghoon was alone were completely different. One was full, and warm. The other felt like giving up.

Sunghoon had given up. He knew he had to let Sunoo go, because there was no way he could continue on like this once Sunoo received his timer. He couldn’t imagine them sitting side by side like they had always done, and then catching a glimpse of Sunoo’s wrist, the numbers ticking down to the moment when the rug would be swept out from underneath him.

He was avoiding him. He knew avoidance wasn’t the solution, but it hurt more to be near him right now. He took his lunch break in a hidden corner of the hallway on the second floor, went home directly after school, and stayed away from all their usual meet up spots.

If Sunoo was hurt by his radio silence, he didn’t say anything. He gave Sunghoon his space, never pushing him too far. He was too good. Sunghoon almost wanted to be confronted, to even be yelled at angrily for his childish behavior, just so he could be within reaching distance of Sunoo again.

It was a stupid thing to wish for, to be within reaching distance of someone who would always be out of reach.

Sunghoon was alone again, and he wasn’t used to it.

Just like it was before Kim Sunoo had stepped into his life, his world was cold and frigid.

**5.**

On the morning of Sunoo’s eighteenth birthday, Sunghoon was lying motionless in bed. He had been awake for an hour or so, and yet he couldn’t seem to find the energy to get up and go about his day.

He missed Sunoo. He missed the warm glances, and the soft touches that would ignite a million little flames underneath his skin. In the absence of the heat that Sunoo radiated off of him, Sunghoon felt himself beginning to frost over. His limbs were lead, stiff and heavy. His heart was a flint stone, and without the contact of the one he longed for, he was unable to create a spark to thaw himself.

He knew he should pick up the phone and call. His best friend was coming of age today. He didn’t want to act like a scorned lover and ignore the boy forever simply because of his own feelings. They had never even been lovers. Sunoo had never loved him. And even if he had, he believed too fiercely in the concept of fate and soulmates for him to simply ignore his. Sunghoon was unmarked, fateless and soulmateless, and he would never belong to Sunoo.

Today, Sunoo would find out how long he had to wait before he would belong to someone else. Sunghoon couldn’t bear to call.

His phone rang.

He answered it without thinking, and froze at the sound of Sunoo’s voice.

“Can I see you?”

Sunghoon usually had very little energy for doing things. Today he did not have the energy to have his heart broken.

But because it was Kim Sunoo, there could only ever be one answer.

“Always.”

**~~~**

Sunoo saw Sunghoon first. He was shuffling his feet, hands shoved into his pockets. Some people wrung their hands or twisted their fingers together when they were nervous. When Sunghoon was feeling anxious, he didn’t know what to do with his hands. So he put them in his pockets, another part of himself hidden away, making him just fractionally less exposed.

He was turned away from Sunoo, so Sunoo saw him first. He also saw the exact moment the timer on his wrist counted down to zero. There was not even a single part of him that was surprised.

Sunghoon turned around and saw him. He looked first at Sunoo, then his eyes flickered subconsciously down to Sunoo's wrist, where his hand was trembling like a leaf. His eyes widened. He looked confused, hopeful… hesitant.

Sunoo spared no more time in rushing towards him. He ran as fast as his legs could go, and his momentum almost caused him to barrel right into Sunghoon’s chest. He skidded to a stop, their toes touching. Sunghoon took a step back. His eyes were fixed directly on Sunoo’s face now, not wandering anywhere else. 

“Hyung, look—” Sunoo reached his arm out towards Sunghoon, but before he could say anything, Sunghoon grabbed it and shoved both their hands into the pocket of his jacket, their fingers laced together.

“Your hands are cold,” Sunghoon chastised softly. “Even when it’s this hot outside, why are your hands always so cold?”

Sunoo’s mind went blank, his rhythm thrown off. Every nerve was on fire, his tactile sense heightened, and he was hyper aware of the texture of Sunghoon’s lined pocket brushing against the back of his hand, and the warmth of his palm pressed to his. “You didn’t look,” he said dazedly.

“Why would I need to?” Sunghoon cocked his head.

“My- my timer,” Sunoo stuttered. He paused, collecting himself, before continuing on confidently. “My timer stopped when I saw you.”

“So?”

Sunoo’s heart dropped. How could he have been so stupid? He had been waiting for this moment, counting down the days until his birthday. There had never been a question in his mind that his person woud be Sunghoon. He recalled the boy’s avoidance over the past week. His protests against finding the love of your life through the soulmate mark. He felt weak.

Sunoo started to pull his hand out of Sunghoon’s pocket, to retreat into his own bubble of space where he couldn’t intrude on anyone with his feelings anymore. But Sunghoon wouldn’t let go. He yanked his hand back towards him, and Sunoo’s fingers landed on his chest, automatically curling into the soft cotton of his t-shirt.

Sunghoon looked at him intensely, and Sunoo felt like he was being flayed open, his very soul exposed to the boy before him. Did he really need to stare so deeply in order to deliver the words that would shatter Sunoo’s illusions of love?

Sunghoon’s grasp remained firm over Sunoo’s hand, his fingers clamped over the spot where his timer had ticked down to zero the moment Sunoo had spotted him from the distance.

“My heart stops,” Sunghoon said lowly, “Everytime I see you.”

Sunoo’s breath hitched. His heart which had dropped to his stomach slowly rose again, a dying ember reignited.

His next words came out in a rush. “I knew,” he said. His voice carried a sense of urgency, wanting to make sure that Sunghoon understood him. “I was never worried, because I knew it was you.”

“Did you know that we met on the day of the first snow?” Sunghoon said suddenly.

Sunoo blinked. “Did we?”

“I think that’s how I fell in love with you,” he smiled. “With snowflake eyelashes and a coffee foam mustache.” Sunoo smiled in disbelief, letting out a huff of air. “Or maybe I fell in love with you the next day, when you found me at school for the first time, and insisted on sitting next to me even though I preferred to be alone. And I let you, because suddenly I preferred to be with you.

Or maybe it was the day after that, when you brought me a scarf because you noticed I didn’t have one, and you wrapped it around my neck even when I told you I was used to the cold. Or—”

“How many days have you fallen in love with me?” Sunoo cut him off, laughing.

“Everyday,” Sunghoon replied simply. Sunoo’s lips parted. “I’ve fallen in love with you every single day, and I’ll fall in love with you tomorrow, and the day after that, and the next.”

Sunoo drew in a breath, steadying himself. “And I loved you before I even talked to you,” he finally admitted. He had never confessed it before. “From the moment I saw that quiet, handsome boy sitting alone in the corner of the cafeteria and thought he was the brightest thing in the room.” He supposed he had Jay to thank for arranging their meeting, who had caught him staring for the millionth time and realized that the target of Sunoo’s gaze was his friend.

It was Sunghoon’s turn to be surprised. He never knew that Sunoo had seen him before that day in the coffee shop. It was strange, to have a person who was practically light incarnate, call him bright. He turned Sunoo’s wrist over tenderly and pressed a ghost of a kiss to the zero that was still faintly glowing there. It faded beneath his lips.

“What do we do now?” Sunoo whispered.

Sunghoon squeezed his hand, and entwined their fingers even closer. He felt a feeling of utter calm and peace roll over him. Nothing had changed. They had always belonged to each other, and now they could continue on as they were, with the knowledge clearly printed on their hearts.

It was the beginning of June. The sky was the color of forget-me-nots, and the sun shone above Sunghoon, and beside him, warming him from all angles. Two soulmates stood, hand in hand, with their whole lives ahead of them.

“It’s a perfect day to do nothing.”

**Author's Note:**

> I promised my friend I would include that sunsun crumb of sunghoon pulling their hands into his pocket into one of my fics, so I had to deliver :')))
> 
> Scream at me on twitter :) @gemxblossom


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